08-22-2005 CC MIN - SPECIAL - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Minutes Page 2 August 22, 2005 ----------------------------- per year and, accordingly, one of the trucks requested for 2006 should be deleted from the budget. Street Superintendent Phil Hals distributed a memo regarding the age of the current snowplow trucks within the Street Department and discussed dependability and down time concerns for the trucks that are over 20 years old. It was further noted that each additional 12-15 miles of street that is added to the city through development projects constitutes another snowplow route and therefore another truck and employee. Councilmember Dietz asked if the funds dedicated to capital outlay when the 2004 audit was approved, or if equipment reserves, or the Utilities contribution could be used to fund capital outlay requests now and have these items deleted from the 2006 budget. Mr. Klaers stated that this year, in contrast to previous years, he hopes to use the techniques mentioned by Councilmember Dietz to fund some of the $650,850 worth of capital outlay items that he has proposed to be removed from the general fund budget. The Council discussed the budget goal of getting an increased level of capital outlay expenditures into the general fund budget. Councilmember Farber asked if the second vehicle could be a used truck rather than a new truck. Street Superintendent Phil Hals indicated that this could be done but the major issue of concern is related to obtaining a truck that has an automatic transmission as there is a limited supply of these vehicles. Councilmember Dietz indicated he supports the Street Department getting two trucks this year as the growth of the community and the age of the existing vehicles demands that two trucks be purchased in some year in the near future in order to catch up. Councilmember Farber respectfully disagreed with Councilmember Dietz’s position and he thought that one per year would ultimately meet the needs of the city. Mayor Klinzing asked for a review of the long range plans for Street Department truck purchases. Street Superintendent Phi Hals explained the truck Capital Improvement Program for the next nine years. For the foreseeable future, one truck per year will be needed through 2010 (after the two in 2006) and also, some heavy equipment (i.e. sweeper, grader, front end loader) will be needed every other year or so. Mr. Hals indicated that the department equipment needs are increasing and are not projected to decrease. Councilmember Motin asked about the street improvement levy and the equipment certificate amount. Finance and Administrative Services Director Lori Johnson responded regarding the change from 2005 to 2006 for funding the street improvement program and noted that the equipment certificate amount in the 2006 levy was simply a general estimate at this point.